Further Evidence that Excess Parking Creates Traffic

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In the Thursday, October 8th Washington Post, Paul Schwartzman, in his article “At NW Mall, So Many Spaces, So Little Need” highlights that parking regulations in many places are antiquated, requiring parking at suburban levels despite the preponderance of walking and transit. Downtown, the District is losing $100,000 a month on a parking garage they built for Target because “many shoppers walk” or “arrive by bus or Metro.” In fact, Metro usage at the station adjacent to the development jumped 25%. This is why many are pleased at Montgomery County’s forward-thinking reduction in parking requirements as seen in the White Flint plan. This is also yet another example of well considered mixed-use getting more people out of their cars, while providing an amenity to the neighborhood.

The prediction seemed sound: A shopping mall dropped in the middle of Washington would deliver street-snarling traffic to an otherwise peaceful residential neighborhood.

The District’s solution was to build a parking colossus, a $40 million taxpayer-funded garage beneath the Target-anchored mall in Columbia Heights. Yet, even as waves of shoppers come and go, the 1,000-space garage remains empty enough that the operator typically blocks off one of its two sprawling levels.

The District has lost nearly $2 million — or $100,000 a month — since the garage opened in March 2008, numbers that make Valerie Santos groan when she considers the city’s decision to build the structure.

“I don’t want to say it’s a quote, unquote, mistake. At the time the District did what it had to do to attract a retailer it sorely wanted,” said Santos, deputy mayor for planning and economic development. “Am I happy about the operating deficit? Of course not.”

The empty garage is part of the evidence that District officials cite as they rewrite 50-year-old regulations so they will no longer require developers to build a minimum number of parking spaces for new retail outlets, offices and apartments in areas near Metro stations. Instead, the District would like to leave it to developers to analyze market conditions and determine the appropriate parking levels.

“The concept is that in a city like ours, with so much transit and so many transportation choices, demand for parking is on a glide-path downward,” said Harriet Tregoning, director of the District’s Office of Planning. “It’s become more the fashion not to get in your car.”

The District’s evolving view of parking mirrors one that has occurred from California to Britain, as civic leaders and planners have sought ways to promote dynamic, pedestrian-friendly street life.

“You shouldn’t think of this as any pioneering reform in Washington. You’re following the pack, and you’re a long way behind,” said Donald Shoup, a University of California at Los Angeles planning professor. He said cities such as Boston, San Francisco and Chicago don’t impose minimum parking requirements. “Every place we admire does not have a lot of parking.”

When the District sought to spur development in Columbia Heights a decade ago, the city was emerging from financial free-fall. The District’s zoning regulations required that parking be provided at DC USA, as the mall on 14th Street NW came to be called. A garage was also needed to persuade Target to open its first store in Washington, in a working-class neighborhood still scarred by the 1968 riots, D.C. officials say.

District officials say that DC USA, which includes Target, Best Buy and Staples, has generated $10 million in tax revenue for the city and that the mall has transformed Columbia Heights. Many shoppers walk to DC USA or arrive by bus or Metro. The year after Target opened, traffic at the Columbia Heights Metro station jumped 25 percent, the most rapid increase of any stop in the city, planning officials say.

The garage is another story, even though its rates are relatively cheap at $1 an hour for the first four hours. According to the District, the garage’s best month was November, when an average of 47 percent of spaces were filled at 6 p.m., the peak hour. But from February through July, average peak use never exceeded 30 percent. In May, the worst month, shoppers filled an average 247 of 1,000 spaces, or 25 percent.

The White Flint Implementation Advisory Committee is a body appointed by the Planning Board in 2010 to: Review assumptions made regarding traffic, including transit use and parking Monitor plan recommendations Identify new projects for the[...]

The White Flint Downtown Advisory Committee was appointed by the County Executive and County Council to advise on public services within the sector, coordinate community activities and create an Urban District. The DAC is scheduled[...]

The White Flint Implementation Advisory Committee is a body appointed by the Planning Board in 2010 to: Review assumptions made regarding traffic, including transit use and parking Monitor plan recommendations Identify new projects for the[...]

The White Flint Downtown Advisory Committee was appointed by the County Executive and County Council to advise on public services within the sector, coordinate community activities and create an Urban District. The DAC is scheduled[...]

The White Flint Implementation Advisory Committee is a body appointed by the Planning Board in 2010 to: Review assumptions made regarding traffic, including transit use and parking Monitor plan recommendations Identify new projects for the[...]

The White Flint Downtown Advisory Committee was appointed by the County Executive and County Council to advise on public services within the sector, coordinate community activities and create an Urban District. The DAC is scheduled[...]

The White Flint Implementation Advisory Committee is a body appointed by the Planning Board in 2010 to: Review assumptions made regarding traffic, including transit use and parking Monitor plan recommendations Identify new projects for the[...]

The White Flint Downtown Advisory Committee was appointed by the County Executive and County Council to advise on public services within the sector, coordinate community activities and create an Urban District. The DAC is scheduled[...]

The White Flint Implementation Advisory Committee is a body appointed by the Planning Board in 2010 to: Review assumptions made regarding traffic, including transit use and parking Monitor plan recommendations Identify new projects for the[...]

The White Flint Downtown Advisory Committee was appointed by the County Executive and County Council to advise on public services within the sector, coordinate community activities and create an Urban District. The DAC is scheduled[...]